1. Field of the Related Art
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and an image processing method, and more specifically to the image processing apparatus such as a Multiple Function Peripheral, which can transmit image data to a plurality of addresses, and the image processing method by which the image data can be transmitted to the plurality of addresses.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, an image processing system has been in use, where a Multiple Function Peripheral (hereinafter referred to as “MFP”) is connected to a plurality of terminals by a local area network (hereinafter referred to as “LAN”) or the like. In such an image processing system, for example, data obtained by scanning a document with a scanner unit of the MFP can be transmitted from the MFP to each terminal.
In transmitting data from the MFP to each terminal, a user sets an address of a person to which the data is to be transmitted with an operation panel. In general, a list of a plurality of names previously registered as an address book is displayed on the operation panel. The user selects at least one name from the list as a name to which the data is to be transmitted. However, the following cases sometimes occur in selecting a specific name from the list as described above. The user might erroneously select a name of a different person similar to the name of a person to which the data is to be transmitted, or the user might erroneously select, by touching with a finger or the like, a name of a different person displayed adjacent to the name of the person to which the data is to be transmitted. If the user does not notice the erroneous selection of the name and then transmits the data to a totally unrelated person, a serious problem, such as leakage of secret information, may arise.
For example, in some conventional fax machines, upon manual input of a phone number of a person to which a message is to be sent, information of the person corresponding to the input phone number is displayed so as to prevent input error of a phone number (e.g. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-77997).
Further, in some conventional fax machines, when a plurality of addresses have been set, an operator is informed, prior to transmission of data, that a plurality of addresses have been set by means of a message displayed on a display (e.g. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 11-225260.)
Moreover, in some conventional fax machines, it is detected that a user has set broadcasting transmission by inputting a plurality of addresses with an operation means, and on condition of this detection, a screen confirming the setting of the broadcasting transmission is displayed (e.g. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 11-146174)